"We're trying to prove the doubters wrong, that city kids can play, as well as girls."

Mo'ne Davis could be a symbol. A star pitcher and leadoff hitter from Philadelphia's Taney Dragons, she is one of just two girls playing in the Little League's Mid-Atlantic Regional.

She's one of three players Taney manager Alex Rice said he feels comfortable playing in any position.

"She didn't just make the team," he said. "At times, she'll carry the team."

For her teammates, she provides extra motivation. She is also a friend — one of 12 who plays baseball for Taney, which begins Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament play in Bristol, Conn. on Saturday at 11 a.m. against West Salisbury (Md.).

"To me she is the best pitcher," Taney outfielder Zion Spearman, 13, said. "And she is an awesome person on and off the field."

Davis cares about others, Spearman said, and while she has doubters, she cares about them too, if only to disprove them. Davis has doubters. She's a girl. The Dragons have doubters. They're city kids, and many have played against the perception that their coming from an urban center somehow limits their ability to play baseball, since they were six years old.

When Taney came under attack from opposing players on Instragram last weekend, Davis was singled out as part of the reason Little League would allow the Dragons to advance to Bristol, despite the hash tagged accusation "#TaneyCheats," Taney pitcher and first baseman Joe Richardson Jr. said.

Davis throws a fastball, a curveball, change-up and a knuckleball. She doesn't throw the change-up or the knuckleball much, but when she is on, Richardson said, so is the curveball. With a 70 m.p.h. fastball, however, she doesn't need many pitches.

She's always thinking and she's thinking at a level that's beyond Little League for sure."

Richardson had to catch her once. "It hurts," he said. "It hurts."

Along with Spearman, Richardson and catcher Scott Bandura, Davis comes from the Anderson Monarchs of the Marian Anderson recreation center in Center City.

After Taney won the Pennsylvania state tournament Sunday, beating Collier Township 6-4, the Dragons had a celebratory lunch at the Sly Fox Brewhouse and Eatery in Phoenixville before Davis left the team for a basketball camp in Connecticut.

She'll rejoin the team of friends ahead of their Saturday tournament opener.

"It's fun because we get to experience the same thing at the same time and succeed together at the same time," Spearman said. "It's nice to see them grow as a player and a person."

If she does symbolize something, her team does too.

Said Spearman: "We're trying to prove the doubters wrong, that city kids can play, as well as girls."